[1991-05-31-NJPW-Heavy Crush] Tatsumi Fujinami vs Masahiro Chono

[Jetlag]

Damn, I didn't expect to like this so much. Any Fujinami big match is guaranteed to have a ton of wrestling, and there was a lot of that here, but there was also a ton of disdain right from the opening which has Chono spitting Fujinami in the face. Chono is far from a great matworker, but he was game here, busting out an awesome calf slicer and a flying clothesline that was like something Necro Butcher would do. He also wasn't afraid to get into stiff slap battles and I liked his headbutts and mafia kicks he would use to combat Fujinami's mat prowess. Fujinami on his side had one of the most brutal dropkicks I've ever seen and an epic dive. This was a very typical NJPW style match, there was no grand finishing run with a ton of big moves to be kicked out of or something, instead it was about avoiding the other guy's finisher when push came to shove. That and the fact both guys sold a ton of exhaustion made the second half of this pretty great. Little bit of a lucha title match influence here with some dramatic bumps for momentum shifts and that sick guardrail dive from Fujinami. Great stuff, glad that this was brought up as the 232nd best match of the 90s

[Makai Club #1]

There was a real intensity to this match - from Chono’s kicks to Fujinami’s rough mat work. Loved how both guys would throw hard slaps, whether it was Fujinami at the start of the match or Chono while on top of Fujinami, which lead to a lovely slap exchange on the ground. Fujinami in particular was awesome in this. Loved his selling , the way he sold execution was really effective. Chono as well. Fujinami looked really back to his best offence wise with him hitting a brutal tope and a pinpoint dropkick right on Chono’s jaw. The finish was a great battle of the Dragon Sleeper vs the STF with each time both wrestlers wriggling out of their respective holds. Great match. ****1/4